How to go from paper to digital, or, How I make maps

I was recently asked about my process, the way in which I clean my maps. So I will go through the process as much as I am able here. I am starting with a completed piece and simply going over the computer part of the process.

1) Scan your piece and open in am art program, here I am using GIMP because it is awesome.

2) Next I clean it up a little, reducing the image to just the parts you want to use. In this case I have removed the extra parts of my Moleskine journal I draw in so that all that remains are the actual drawing parts. I also rotate the image to how it will appear in the final map.

3) Next I copy the image over to Inkscape, I just use ctrl+c and ctrl+v because I am old school and know all those keyboard shortcuts. Once the piece is in Inkscape, I select "Trace to Bitmap" under Paths in the menu bar.

3.5) Next I change the settings to how they appear here. I up the Threshold slightly and check the remove background. It took me a while to mess around get these settings but this is where I like them.

4) Copy the resulting image back into GIMP. What you should get is a pure black and white version of your image. I am aware there are other ways to accomplish this same feat using filters and whatnot but I have been using this process for about two years now and I am an old grognard. I like this method.
Now, if you look close you will see that some spots that were faint in the original piece look pretty crappy after the Inckscape processing, look at the OCT 8 "Rock" for reference. This I will need to go over in GIMP slightly with the pen tool to fix. Sometimes I will also reproduce the layer and merge it on itself, effectively making the ink thinker/stronger.

5) Next up I use the "Color to Alpha" tool under the Color menu to produce a black only image, allowing me to color on new layers beneath it and not fear ruining the black map layer.

6) The resulting image should look something like this. Here I have pasted it into my 'stock' background that I put all my maps into.

7) The next step is the tedious, but more artistic, of the steps. Coloring. I create new layers such as 'walls', 'floors', etc and color using a brush I made and simply go about coloring the various aspects of the map.

I hope you like this and find it useful. It really is quite an easy process to get your drawn image into GIMP and ready for coloring. If you end up using this process please share it with me, I would love to see what others create using this simple process.

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[map] Inktober, pt 2

More fleshed out maps from the inktober series.

And the black and white version

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[map] Inktober, pt 1

I decided to throw my inktober musings into GIMP and clean them up a little. Here is the first one:

And black and white version

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[map] The Cactus Bar

+Luka Rejec posted some very cool images as part of his new Patreon page and I was inspired to draw something that might fit his image. Not sure if it compares or not but here you go. You can see the post that inspired this map here: https://plus.google.com/+LukaRejec/posts/Ua4D7ufPjxJ

And the black and white version:

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The Rosataen Emperor's Retreat

Along the banks of the Great Tullurian River a small cavern opens up into the Rosataen Emperor's secret retreat. Magics hide the opening to the cavern, making it appear to be nothing more than a sheer cliff face along the river's bank.

Inside are apartments for the Emperor and his guests, an area to dine and a continual river of water that enables the party to float along the calm waters and relax. Gems, tiles, paints, and carvings are used in massive artwork that lines the walls along this river. Faint light spells, which can be attuned to the Emperor's mood in intensity and color, suspended from the ceiling far above provide the entire cavern with soft ambient light. A full kitchen keeps the guests well-fed while ample storage provides a never-ending flow of wine, fruits, and meats.

The long room along the worker's corridor is the barracks utilized by the Emperor's guard when he is in residence and can accommodate nearly thirty-five men in it's specially constructed bunks which stretch to the ceiling in sets of five atop each other. It is tight but there are rarely that many men here at any one time, patrols, guard duty and such occupying most of their time.

When the Emperor was younger the cavern was the site of numerous week long parties and celebrations with young beauties, drugs, midgets, and untold wonderful oddities. Now that the Emperor has matured into his elder years he comes to remember, relax, and rest. Assassins have attempted to breach the securities and harm the Emperor, but so far none have been successful.

Supporters over on Patreon also received a four page PDF write up of this location, with more details about Kreel, his past and the effect it had on the Tart, details on the caverns connected to the cellar, and possible adventure hooks and seeds. Drop a buck a month and get access to the PDF as well as 3-5 new high-resolution maps per month. Maps are provided in various color schemes and at 300dpi, 11x14 image files suitable for printing. Are you ready to become a patron supporter?